Kohayagawa-ke no aki (The End of Summer) (Early Autumn) (1961)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Keiko A

  
  God i love Yasujiro Ozu's films and he is one of my top 10 directors for sure. This film demonstrates his stylistic touch for deceptive simplicity, rapier wit, and nuances of melancholy in this well-wrought drama about a man in the declining years of his life. Many would call… More
  God i love Yasujiro Ozu's films and he is one of my top 10 directors for sure. This film demonstrates his stylistic touch for deceptive simplicity, rapier wit, and nuances of melancholy in this well-wrought drama about a man in the declining years of his life. Many would call his films boring...? I love each and every second of them easy. Wonderful story telling and themes for each of his films (and this). The costumes are very nice along with the camera work (A tradmark of his). If you haven't seen any films of his you must see this or Tokyo Story first...

• danny d

  
  ozu's next to last film is strikingly similar in theme and tone to his masterpiece tokyo story, and its almost as beautiful. the film is definitely classic ozu, with its slow but effective pacing, simple storyline, astounding cinematography, and emphasis on the family and the… More
  ozu's next to last film is strikingly similar in theme and tone to his masterpiece tokyo story, and its almost as beautiful. the film is definitely classic ozu, with its slow but effective pacing, simple storyline, astounding cinematography, and emphasis on the family and the portrayal of real life in japanese culture. this film, like tokyo story, confronts the difficult topic of death head on, and like tokyo story reveals the compassionate side of family life as well as the burdensome one. the dialogue was effective and the film stirring from the start. ozu was the master at making films without tricks and gimicks, and the realism cant be denied.

• Eric B

  
  "The End of Summer" earns three stars mostly for academic respect -- my personal enjoyment rates lower. Arguably, the story includes just one major event, while most characters just eat, drink and indecisively waffle about which action to take. The film looks like an old… More
  "The End of Summer" earns three stars mostly for academic respect -- my personal enjoyment rates lower. Arguably, the story includes just one major event, while most characters just eat, drink and indecisively waffle about which action to take. The film looks like an old Disney movie with its bright lighting, rich color and perfect grooming, and I grew tired of the same directing choices being made over and over. The distant, low-angle camera positions. The cityscape montages inserted between the scenes. And especially the stiff way the dialogue is typically filmed: characters directly facing waist-level cameras as they trade lines. It's as if the scenes are shot by a salad bowl sitting between the actors. Add the aggravating constancy of Setsuko Hara's polite smile and you get a movie that seriously tried my patience. To see a wealthy Japanese family in transition, try "The Ceremony" instead.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "The End of the Summer," Kohayagawa(Ganjiro Nakamura) is a retired widower who spends most of his time with his old mistress Sasaki(Chieko Naniwa), whose daughter Yuriko(Reiko Dan), may be his. While his behavior is making his family unhappy, they… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "The End of the Summer," Kohayagawa(Ganjiro Nakamura) is a retired widower who spends most of his time with his old mistress Sasaki(Chieko Naniwa), whose daughter Yuriko(Reiko Dan), may be his. While his behavior is making his family unhappy, they have bigger things to worry about. To start, the family business, a sake brewery, is faltering and may be forced to merge in order to stay afloat. Of the three daughters, Akiko(Setsuko Hara), a widow and mother, and Noriko(Yoko Tsukasa) are both contemplating proposals.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"The End of Summer" is a sweet and elegant movie from Yasujiro Ozu that like most of his movies has a family at the center of the drama, this one being more complicated than usual.(So much so, that one of the characters is flummoxed trying to figure out its structure. Next time, go with a flowchart.) Underlying that, it is about how precious life is, to treasure every moment and most importantly not to place oneself in a situation that can only make a person miserable. [/font]